PEACE, PEACE, A HOLLOW PEACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 131, 14 April 1864, Page 4

PEACE, PEACE, A HOLLOW PEACE.

To the Editor of the .New Zbal.4nd Hkkald. Sin, —It is astonishing how anxious idle people ■ become about the affairs of others, and wh<;n to idleness profound ignorance is added, the officious 1 interference is generally redoubled. Any one would fancy that a large number of men forming a colony on the opposite side of the fijWe to England,—a colony containing men of threat respectability, good ■ means, and finished education, large interest in the welfare of the colony, and earnest desire to promote their own and the public interest together—men, moreover, with the future interest of wires and families at Btakc —any one, I say, would fancy that such men might be considered capable of managing their own affairs, and that thej' would be better judges of the necessary course to pursue under any circumstance* of difficulty than the dillctanle philanthropists of England. Our liveß, and those of all dear to us, are barely saved from destruction by our own exertions. Our property is wasted, and, in some cases altogether

ruined, by ti set of licrnsoil plunderers, armed with our arms, and spoiled by our (<'<> l inngo««l nature, and when \v« ttrrn to reclaim our lost position, and put our Hvives and children in safety, we arc (o pause tv'hile a verbose, theoretical, pM-iido-philanthropist, who knows nothing whatever of the question, takes us by the button hole, and prosily implores ».«. tho victims, and defendei-s of against- lawless aggression, not to give way to the unjust aud brutal sway of our passions.

The address of the Aborigines Protection Society to Sir George Grey amounts in fact to this, nnd is without exception tho most uncalled for piere (if officious interference. It is what -might be expected from sentimentalising, sensation seeking great town, tired of its own vapid peaceful scandal and discussion of sewers, so 'king for some new sensati' ii, such as is afforded hy a set of iiil.rrestini/ saragcj, who of course ,nti.il be poetical nnd gentle, and whose opponents are necessarily ruthless landmongers, and " common people,'' only to be '-."ut and pnt down.

There is. no hann meant in thin probably, and indeed the people signing the adiii-ess are unquestionably incapable of doing any harm willingly, bnt like all pragmatical, interfering, busy bodies, they go about doing a vast deal of mischief without- tho slightest intention of doing so. Supposing, for instancy as they doubtless anticipate it will bo, their ailvive to us were to be taken at once, and no confiscation of Maori lands to be allowed, the war stopped instantly, I'.nd peace to be negotiated for, with every humility, what, I ask would be the consequences Why the colonists would be saddled with a debt of £3,000,000 caused by the acts of our invaders, and would remain hopelessly ruined beyond a chance of any repair, while the Maoris would escape scot free, and look upon themselves as our conquerors. The colonists might shut up all emigration offices, for most assnedlv we should have no more new arrivals. And we might as well give up all hope <3f our lives, for under such circumstances the moment the troops were withdrawn the King's flag would be hoisted again, every Maori in the island would rise, and if the white people were not murdered, one and all, by some cunningly concerted plot, such us that which was discovered and guarded against in July last, they would be driven to bay in holes and cornel's, and ruined by the endless continuance of the

As for these innocent and much injured Maoris of course no restraint is to be placed upon them, no advice is to be given to them to refrain from perpetrating their barbarities upon our women and children. On the contrary, all the sympathy of our countrymen is devoted to them, and such tales as that lately reaching- us from Tarnnnki of our wounded soldiers being decapitated and ripped up, and their heads being sent from tribe to tribe, nnd passed amidst reviling and insult from hand to hand, will only rouse their indignation against the settlers who have driven the Maoris to take such a course.

Do these amiable gentlemen who busy themselves in our affairs know what-the object is of cutting oft* the heads of the dead soldiers:' 1 will tell them. Tho heads of poor Captain Llovd and his men will be baked and then sent round to the different tribes as prools of the Maori victory over the Knglisli, and to incite them to rise. This is no exaggeration ; it is an old custom of the gentle Maori, who used to stick the baked heads of their fallen foes on poles around their villages. For the manner in which the Aborigines Protection Society would have us requite such barbarities, listen to the address. uWe would, 'therefore, express our earnest hope thut your Excellency will avail yourself of the iirst favourable opportunity which may present itself of endeavouring to terminate the war by negotiation, and especially that you will listen to any overtures of peace which atn/ the •nutivfs M-hu June (tihrn *//* r,unj So that any native with his bands red with the blood of our women or our brave soldiers, and after knocking out the brains of mere boys and little children, as at Howick, may bring in some rusty old musket and be instantly pardoned, and his lands restored to him, with (why do they not at once add '/) a pension for lifo !

Again, the Aborigines Protection Society sav :— 11 that they have been alarmed by the pertinacity with which, in some quarters, it has been proposed to confiscate) the lands of all contumacious and rebellious natives. As has been truly observed, such a policy as this would shut the door to any possible settlement of the difficulty except by the sword. In a word, it would lead to tho extermination of a people who value their soil better than their lives."

How, play, -would the Knriitv have U-H t■ 111 - 1 ]mdifficulty it' not by the sword : The sword is now the most merciful instrument of jiacilicatioii, "Wo (ire advised to re-sort to negotiation. "What negotiation would savages listen to with a people whom they looked upon as 11 spiritless set of cowards, or old women, a.- ihoy r'-rtainly would be if they dropped the .sword Wore most effectually brintring them into submission '? And what repayment are we to take for the lives of our people and what security are we to demand against lawless murder in future I' "Without any need for Mr. "William "Williams, the "Wiscount oi to blush ior his species, I think that the seizure of only suilicient land to pay lor a war forced upon us, and of which all the expense falls upon the civilised side, is a proof of the prut est. mercy in abstaining from taking it all : and I think that in driving the war on to the most complete and humble submissii•!> on the part of the natives, and till the full conviction on their pait that in future all war will be hopeless, is forced upon them, will be the only rational course to pumie, arid in (lie end the most merciful, whatever may be the opinion of such gentlemen as have been kind enough to address their criticisms to lis, and their pity and protection to (he savages who are murdering our people whenever and wherever they get tin; chance to do so.

It is tlie usual oviclt'tic-o,»>!" the goud liisfo and good sense of English sentimentalists, to address all their sympathies to the law breakers, and to look with the most profound neglect upon the victims, or tlie starving artizan. A man must, become a rogue and a scoundrel, before he enn hope to attract the attention and profuse assistance of British platform philanthropists. For instance, what howls have been made about, the ill treatment of their thieves and prisoners, until their prisoners have far more luxurious abodes than the homes of the honest poor ; and their streets swarmed with garrotters, and lawless villains of every kind. Here too, where the sympathies of our countrymen might find a congenial field, our people look for pity for the murdered Mrs. Thompson and her daughter! for the old couple murdered at Drury ! for butchered children, for the many murdered soldiers shot down in cold blooded ambush, and then decapitated and dishonored ' but alas, they find nolle where they might have most reasonably have looked for it, from among the refined members of the Aborigines Protection Society ! !

Tha hardest battle of ihe colonists has been against our own pliilo-maori countrymen, both here and at home, and against the etlorts they have made to traduce us in the eyes of those upon whom we have j had to depend for our lives. It its bad enough that j we should have these enemies at a distance, but it is j terrible to think that it is luaiidy to a few systematic | slanderers of influence among us here, that those I at home take their defamatory tone against the New Zealand colonists. 1 am, &c., Akti Humbug.